![\"lower](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/lower-rr-lakes-campground-9044-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI spend a lot of time camping in my trailer and as a bird photographer my choice of a camping spot is an important one for me. I generally loathe public campgrounds because I crave solitude and quiet so I usually camp in what’s called “dispersed” campsites on BLM or National Forest lands where I have no close neighbors and quiet and\u00a0relative wildness abound. But on my many visits to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Montana I do make an exception for reasons that should soon become clear.<\/p>\n
The refuge has two campgrounds –\u00a0one on the shores of Upper Red Rock Lake and one on Lower Red Rock Lake. The upper lake campground is beautiful and\u00a0surrounded by trees that are often loaded with songbirds\u00a0and it’s next to the main road through the refuge and the Centennial Valley so it’s often very busy with campers. I’ve never camped there and likely never will.<\/p>\n
Despite it’s “shortcomings” the lower lake campground is my cup of coffee. It isn’t as verdant and lush as the one at the upper lake, shade trees are nonexistent, it’s almost a three mile drive on an even rougher road just to get there\u00a0and you’re much more exposed to the afternoon wind at the lower lake\u00a0but it’s where I always camp when I’m on the refuge.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc<\/strong><\/p>\n This is my trailer in the lower lake campground during my last visit a few weeks ago. The image was taken from almost three miles away but my elevated position when I took the shot gives a better overall look at the setting. The campground\u00a0is stark in some ways, especially when seen from this distance and angle. It’s enclosed by a rough fence and consists only of 8 or nine campsites, some fire pits and two dilapidated\u00a0outhouses. You can see a small part of the lower lake on the far side of my trailer.<\/p>\n But I love this place for the following reasons:<\/p>\n But there’s yet\u00a0another reason this sometimes lazy photographer prefers this campground. It isn’t unusual for me to spot interesting birds on the lake from inside my trailer, open my door, brace my lens on the door frame and photograph them from the comfort of “home”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Three weeks ago while I was eating lunch in the trailer I looked through my window and spotted\u00a0this pair of Trumpeter Swans with 4 half-grown cygnets swimming\u00a0closely by in formation. I jumped up,\u00a0opened my screen door and photographed them until they had passed me and then went back to my turkey sandwich and chips\u00a0and watched them some more as I was eating.<\/p>\n True, I have technically better shots of swans than this. The sun was high in the sky, the light was harsh and I have no catch lights in the eyes. But opportunities like this can present themselves any time of day at the lower campground. From most places in the upper campground you can’t even see the water because of the trees.<\/p>\n And the feeling I had to be able watch\u00a0this family of\u00a0shy birds and their natural behaviors through my window as I essentially used my trailer as a blind?<\/p>\n Priceless…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note: I’m not sure why more National Wildlife Refuges don’t have campgrounds, especially the more remote ones. For example, neither Bear River NWR or Fish Springs NWR have campgrounds. At times I wish they did…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I spend a lot of time camping in my trailer and as a bird photographer my choice of a camping spot is an important one for me.<\/p>\n\n
![\"tundra](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/tundra-swan-8153-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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